Aspen outdoor marijuana-growing ‘experiment’ OK’d by Pitkin County

ASPEN — A majority of Pitkin County commissioners voted Wednesday to allow an already-permitted indoor marijuana facility to grow as many as 250 plants outdoors this summer.

Commissioners termed the deal a “one-year experiment” with the owners of Stash marijuana dispensary in Aspen, and they placed conditions on it, including the installation of a driveway camera on the property, keeping aesthetics in mind when building a fence around the outdoor grow and capping the number of outside plants at 250.

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The biggest condition, however, was that commissioners can shut down the outdoor grow at any time if complaints about odors or other problems arise.

Garrett and Shawna Patrick, owners of Stash, have had a permitted grow facility in the county since 2011 without any complaints, said Jeanette Jones, the commissioners’ records manager. That facility is permitted to grow as many as 1,800 plants, though Garrett Patrick said he doesn’t come close to producing that many and didn’t need commissioners to add to the total number he is allowed to grow to include the outdoor plants.